Manufacturing Robotics: Automation with Emotion

I enjoy Halloween. I particularly enjoy passing out candy and treats to the children and being amused by their costumes. Some are very creative, and cute. A young girl no older than 3 years was dressed as a duck and instead of saying, “Trick or Treat” she just quacked. It was Hilarious!! So what does my Halloween experience this year have to do with manufacturing. Well, a young man came to my home dressed in a very elaborate and cleverly designed C-3PO costume. You know the clever robot in the Star Wars series that translated for R2D2.

I began to think about how robots in manufacturing are evolving and becoming more intuitive and cerebral, but an interesting phenomenon is also starting to evolve in the world of robotics. They’re becoming more emotional.

Say Hello to Mr. Baxter. Rethink Robotics has designed a friendly and compassionate robot with ‘common sense’. Baxter is a worker robot with a touchscreen face that’s as much about communicating its intent as giving humans something more to experience. It’s safe to work around, courteous and follows instructions very well. The ideal teenage son. Baxter also cost about $22,000. Less than a 1/3 of some college tuitions.

Can you envision yourself treating your fellow robot much like you treat your trusted Golden Retriever, Fido? Do you remember Rosie from the Jetsons and B9, the robot from the late 1960’s sitcom, Lost In Space (Boy am I dating myself)? These robots expressed emotions like love and fear, were treated like family and were trusted to help make critical decisions that effected the safety and well being of their owners.

Baxter is being touted as the catalyst to help restore US and European manufacturing prowess. Do you think Baxter robots will achieve this objective? I’m not sure, but I would like to know how President Obama and Mr. Romney plan to tax Mr. Baxter. I would hate for Baxter to become emotionally upset and stage a strike.

1 Comments.

Great job I thought the robot is kind of slow but then I realized that I slowed its work due to the human presence. I just wonder how complex actions it can do it looks like it is little stiff. But any way it's a great improvement for the industry I'm sure that robotics will get more sophisticated :)

Some of the individuals posting to this site, including the moderators, work for Cisco Systems. Opinions expressed here and in any corresponding comments are the personal opinions of the original authors, not of Cisco. The content is provided for informational purposes only and is not meant to be an endorsement or representation by Cisco or any other party. This site is available to the public. No information you consider confidential should be posted to this site. By posting you agree to be solely responsible for the content of all information you contribute, link to, or otherwise upload to the Website and release Cisco from any liability related to your use of the Website. You also grant to Cisco a worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free and fully-paid, transferable (including rights to sublicense) right to exercise all copyright, publicity, and moral rights with respect to any original content you provide. The comments are moderated. Comments will appear as soon as they are approved by the moderator.